Sacha Baron Cohen's Who Is America? ratings almost triple with 2.8 mn viewers tuning in for second episode

Sunday night's broadcast of Who Is America? raked in almost triple the viewers of the show's pilot. 2.8 million people tuned in to watch the second episode of Sacha Baron Cohen's Showtime series compared to the paltry 1 million who watched the series opener on 15 July.

In the second episode, Cohen poses as Erran Morad, an Israeli military expert, who persuades Republican Rep. Jason Spencer to take part in several outlandish exercises. The lawmaker is told they're making a counter-terrorism video. Spencer repeatedly shouts a racial slur for black people after Cohen tells him the tactic is useful for drawing bystanders' attention to an unfolding attack. He also drops his pants, then his underwear, before backing his exposed rear end toward Cohen while shouting "USA!" and "America!"

Cohen told Spencer the move would incite fear in homophobic jihadists. The segment also shows Spencer speaking with a mock Asian accent while pretending to use a selfie-stick to surreptitiously insert a camera phone under a Muslim woman's burqa. Spencer's on-camera conduct horrified everyone from Democrats to his fellow Republicans in Georgia.

Spencer isn't the first public figure to be fooled by Cohen in his Showtime series. Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Arizona sheriff and US Senate candidate Joe Arpaio have also been duped.